Claiming a proposed expansion of trucking facility in the south end of Secaucus may be a step in the wrong direction, Mayor Dennis Elwell asked the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) to reject a variance request at a December public hearing in Secaucus.
Elwell was one of two Secaucus residents who came out to listen to the presentation for the expansion.
Lakeshore Ventures sought permission to expand its trucking terminal on New County Road, nearly doubling the size of a terminal currently used by Federal Express. The proposal would add 60 additional bays, and according to Elwell, it would result in 90 additional truck trips in and out of the area.
The terminal currently has 80 loading docks with average daily truck traffic in and out of about 120 trips.
In arguing for the approval, George Cascino said the building – which does not conform to a 1999 rezoning of the area – has been in operation for more than 30 years and is a very profitable center, feeding many of the area’s rail lines.
Under the rezoning for the area and the NJMC master plan, truck terminals are not specifically addressed. Cascino argued that the trucks would not affect the plans for residential and retail business development proposed for the area by a New Jersey Transit study released last July.
Cascino’s proposal would also include road improvements to help ease the impact of truck traffic, directing the trucks towards Meadowlands Parkway. The NJ Turnpike Authority is currently constructing an entrance and exit for the Turnpike in the area which would likely handle a great deal of traffic once completed in 2005.
In a later interview, Elwell repeated his arguments against the project, noting the history of the area and how little choice residents had for development in that area in the past. He said for the first time – through a citizen stakeholders committee that had made recommendations for the Transit study – local residents were determining their own destiny.
“I wanted to talk about the area from the perspective of someone who grew up in Secaucus,” Elwell said. “As a young boy, I remember that part of Secaucus was the home of the county’s institutions – similar to what is on the Meadowview Hospital campus today. There was a beautiful mountain there, and the area had paved streets with streetlights. It was politics back then that turned that site in a rock quarry, and Secaucus became the home of trash dumps with nearly constantly burning fires and truck terminals.”
He added, “The people in that side of Secaucus suffered terribly. Even when the international postal facility was constructed along County Road (in Jersey City), people there had to put up with the trucks passing their houses. Recently, they had to put up with the expansion of the Croxton Yards [freight train facility on the Secaucus/Jersey City border] and found traffic backed up along County Avenue because of the trains going in and out.”
Elwell said that the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission should not approve the expansion of truck terminals when there is a recommendation that would alter the character of that side of Secaucus, turning a blighted area into a thriving residential and business community.
“At this point, we are considering the recommendations of a Transit Village Study,” Elwell said. “This would include housing.”
Fitting in
Cascino, in making his case for approval, said the increased terminal could fit in with future plans, and that trucking could operate in conjunction with residential development without an impact.
Elwell – who owns a trucking company in a residential area and will shortly be relocating to a non-residential area – said experiences with other companies, including Liberty Motor Freight in the North End, shows truck traffic had a negative impact on the quality of life in residential neighborhoods. This could be something as simple as the rumble of dock plates being dropped or truck engines running at unreasonable hours.
The position of the town, Elwell said, is to seek a rejection for the variances until the Transit Study option can be more fully contemplated.
“If approved, we would see 90 more truck trips through there a day,” he said. “This would have a negative impact on the roads we are currently trying to improve for the area.”
Elwell said that, however, the Town Council is not entirely in favor of implementing the Transit Study recommendations either.
“I know that Bob Kickey, John Bueckner and Chris Marra have all expressed some reservations,” he said. “But we must have some sort of plan for development in that area, and we do not want individual property owners driving development in the area. We do not want to have recycling or trash trucks operating next to housing, and this would be something similar to that.”
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission will be holding two more public hearings in the future on the project, and will also have to discuss the redevelopment zone again before including it in the town’s master plan.
“The redevelopment zone will require a vote from the Town Council,” Elwell said.